Laws of Magic
'The Laws of Magic' The White Council’s Wardens are the main law enforcement body of the supernatural world— at least as far as mortals go. For the Wardens, the Laws of Magic are sacrosanct. The Laws of Magic are clear, concise, and offer little in the way of “wiggle room”—at least in the views of some Wardens—but are very much written to communicate the spirit of the law, which is the mode in which they are enforced. (This stands in contrast to the other major body of supernatural legalese, the Unseelie Accords, where there is no spirit of the law—only the letter of it.) Here, we’ll discuss what it actually means to break one of the Laws of Magic and look at each Law in depth, finding the grey areas in this code that separates black magic from white. 'Breaking the Laws of Magic' While the Laws of Magic may seem more like a guide for living right as a spellcaster, they exist for a very serious, very palpable reason: whenever you make use of true black magic—using your talent in spellcraft in a way that breaks one of the Laws—you change yourself, darkening your soul. Whenever you choose to break one of the Laws of Magic, you’re crossing a very real line. By taking such an action, you’ve altered your self-image and your beliefs—the very basis of you—to be the sort of person who breaks that Law. Often, once you do that, there’s no turning back. Are you the kind of person who reads thoughts, twists minds, and kills with magic? There are many who believe that if you cross that line even once, you will be. Inevitably. Forever. In this way, the Laws aren’t a legal entity at all; they’re a set of magical principles that, when broken, lead to a fundamental change in the nature of the person who broke them. The White Council also enforces them as laws, but that’s in addition to this fundamental change. You could say that the Laws exist as two separate concepts with 99% overlap—the Wardens of the White Council enforce one concept (law), while reality metaphysically enforces the other (nature). 'Non-People Don't Count... Or Do They?' The White Council has made clear that their Laws don’t apply to entities that aren’t people. The Laws of Magic are strongly oriented on protecting the lives and rights of mortals. Creatures and folks that the Council might classify as “monsters” are fair game. With that said, this is a rule of thumb where it’s easy to stumble into the grey area, with things open to interpretation by the Warden on the scene—and given that Wardens have a lot of latitude regarding the whole “judge, jury, and executioner” bit, it’s a grey area that you want to avoid stepping into as a spellcaster. When Harry captured Toot-toot, a faerie, during the Storm Front case, he had to defend his actions to Warden Morgan. This suggests that the even-more-than-usually-hardassed Morgan was inclined to look at Toot as a person, insofar as violating the Fourth Law goes. Harry made the case that he wasn’t enthralling Toot-toot, since no compulsion was overriding Toot’s ability to choose—the little faerie still could have said “no.” Luckily, Harry made it past that encounter with Morgan with his head intact. When a victim is involved (though some of the Laws are victimless), one standard for judgment is whether or not the victim has a soul. Most of the Laws amount to actions which violate the sanctity of life and break the bonds that tether a soul to a mortal being, whether by destroying the body or destroying the mind. This is certainly the most straightforward way of looking at things: first and foremost, if a soul is involved, the stakes are high and the Laws are sitting up and paying attention. Beyond that standard, there’s a fuzzy border dividing people from monsters. Faeries don’t have souls, but they might still be seen as people, at least judging by Morgan’s reaction to Harry and Toot. In game terms, one way to identify whether or not a creature might count as a person is to look at his refresh level. If it’s positive—allowing the creature to exercise at least something like free will through the use of fate points—then there’s a decent chance this creature might be seen as a person, even without a soul. That said, when dealing with a zero or- less refresh human, he (arguably) still has a soul—so the Laws still apply, however far gone he might be. Ultimately, this decision should be made to suit your own sensibilities for your own game. The best interpretation is the one you feel will work for you instinctively, the one that will generate the kinds of stories you’re looking to tell. 'Enforcement' The Laws are generally understood to apply only to humans when it comes to actions taken by the Wardens; however, the Laws aren’t worded that way. This is deliberate vagueness; it gives the Wardens the “spirit of the law” latitude to investigate would-be warlocks before they go over the edge. The attitude here is based on the same thinking that recognizes that serial killers often start their careers by torturing animals (which isn’t, say, as illegal as doing the same to a person) before eventually moving up to humans. In practice, this attitude gets mixed results, including the persecution of folks who aren’t actually breaking any Laws or taking that short trip to Warlocktown. Still, a Warden has never actually executed someone for any kind of “pseudo-breaking” of the Laws (that we know of )—though they are fond of calling for in-depth investigations on the wizards in question. Once the Wardens start poking around, such investigations often find that a Law actually has been broken. 'What Happens When You Break the Laws' In game terms, whenever your character crosses the line for the first time—breaking a Law that he has not broken before—he must immediately take a new Lawbreaker ability. A Lawbreaker ability is a supernatural power that reduces your refresh by one—you should sit up and take notice here. (Remember, if a character’s refresh ever drops to zero or below, he stops being a viable PC. He loses his free will, becoming a creature subservient to his nature, always acting in accordance with what he is rather than who he could be. Break enough of the Laws of Magic, and the cost of these abilities will eat you alive.) Every Lawbreaker ability offers the same “benefits.” You gain +1 on your skill rolls when using magic to break that Law again. If you’re looking to dye your wool darker, the bonus increases by one if you have three or more Lawbreaker abilities in total. Similarly, if you break the same Law on three or more occasions, your bonus on that ability increases by one, increasing its refresh cost to –2. The effects of being a Lawbreaker go beyond the simple application of these abilities, however. Once a character has chosen to cross the line and break a Law of Magic, that decision is a part of him however you look at it. Consider replacing or rephrasing one or more of his aspects to show this. Even without such an alteration, that choice to step a little bit into the world of black magic becomes an important lens to view the character’s aspects through, and the GM and player should start pursuing story elements that bring the issue front and center. Some changes of aspect are mandatory. Once your character breaks a particular Law three times, you must replace one of his aspects with a new version that is twisted by the violation of that Law of Magic (it’s a lot like taking an extreme consequence—which isn’t coincidental). Keep a running tally of the violations; for every three occasions a Law is broken, replace another different aspect until all of your character’s aspects have been subverted by his descent into dark magic. 'So Who's to Judge?' Who determines that a character has crossed the line? This is something that a gaming group should decide on as a policy for their specific game. Many groups will want the GM to be the arbiter of such things, and that’s fine. Others might go for a majority consensus of the people at the table. Regardless of who has authority, one thing you’ll want to discuss in advance—unless you’re okay with breaking out into a debate in the middle of play—is whether or not “grey area” violations of the Laws of Magic count just as much as the black-and-white violations do. Our default assumption is that grey area violations are just as bad, forcing the acquisition of a Lawbreaker stunt. At the same time, we are happy to recommend a “getting off with a warning” stance on such things if you find it more entertaining to have characters skirting the edge. One thing you may want to consider when thinking about whether or not a Law of Magic has been broken is the question of intent. Consider the inferno Harry set off at the masquerade ball during the Grave Peril case. He set out to destroy all of the vampires there, expecting to incinerate nothing but evil in that gathering; but human bodies were found afterwards. Sure, they were probably already dead at the hands of the Red Court—but were they, for certain? Whether or not the Wardens would call it a violation of the First Law, does Harry’s fire break that Law for the purposes of Harry’s soul (and thus, would it affect his stunts and aspects), since Harry did not intend to kill anyone other than a murderous bunch of Red Court vampires? The answer can, and indeed should, be different from game to game, from group to group. As such, we don’t have an official answer to this question either way. It comes down to this: how much intent matters is up to you. 'The Doom of Damocles' The ostentatiously-named Doom of Damocles is the White Council’s idea of “going easy” on someone who has broken one of the Laws of Magic and gotten caught in the act. The Doom, once pronounced upon an errant practitioner, operates as a probationary period with no specified end date and with a “one screw-up and you’re dead” policy. It can only be granted as a reprieve from a death sentence by a vote of the Senior Council, the White Council’s ruling body. A similar vote is required to lift the Doom. Even if a good case of extenuating circumstances is placed before the Senior Council, the Doom is rarely exercised as an option. This is due to the Council’s attitude that a death sentence is a surer, safer, and swifter way to get to the same result that will be happening anyway. But that’s not the whole of it. Even if there are some sympathetic ears on the Council, no one is allowed to stand under the Doom without a sponsor—and that sponsor’s fate is linked to that of the Doomed. If the Doom ends, as it often can, with the death sentence carried out, the sentence applies to the sponsor as well. Some sponsors have been able to avoid this fate by acting preemptively to stop (i.e., kill) their Doomed apprentices at the first sign of risk, but often it’s just better to stand back, ditch the idea of sponsorship, and let the blade fall. In recent memory, only Ebenezar McCoy and Harry Dresden (formerly under the Doom himself ) have been brave—or stupid—enough to step up to the job. Characters under the Doom of Damocles, whether as an offender or as a sponsor, should take the Doom as an aspect. It’s certainly going to have a strong (even constant) effect on the character’s life, and it would be a shame not to milk that for every fate point it’s worth. 'The Laws ' #'Never Take a Life' #'Never Transform Another' #'Never Invade the Thoughts of Another' #'Never Enthrall Another' #'Never Reach Beyond the Borders of Life' #'Never Swim Against the Currents of Time' #'Never Seek Knowledge and Power from Beyond the Outer Gates ' Category:World Information